Trouble at the start of freeway

Bottlenecks at both ends as Eastern Freeway traffic takes time to pick up

While traffic on the South Mumbai-Chembur Eastern Freeway,the first phase of which was opened to public last Friday,is still to pick up,commuters are facing bottlenecks at both ends of the road.

MMRDA said 30,000 vehicles used the freeway from Orange Gate in South Mumbai to Panjarpol in Chembur Monday,much below its one-way estimate of at least 24,000 vehicles per day.

While the freeway travel time is barely 15 minutes,the traffic crawls at Panjarpol junction near RK Studio in Chembur and at Orange Gate on P DMello Road,especially during morning and evening peak hours.

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The traffic will increase as people get used to the freeway and change travel plans. We should give it another month or so. The freeway is meant to bypass traffic in certain areas but that does not mean there will be no bottlenecks, said Brijesh Singh,additional commissioner of police (traffic).

He said though monsoon was not the best time to gauge traffic on a new road,the freeway had certainly helped reduce congestion on Ambedkar Road.

MMRDA has,in consultation with traffic authorities,set up a signal at the Panjarpol end of the road,while on P DMello Road it has extended the ramp barricade by a few metres until after SV Patel Road Junction.

The freeway is also facing a problem of jaywalkers on Anik-Panjarpol section,especially near the tunnel to Panjarpol.

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People living on either side of the freeway are seen walking on it and inside the tunnel.

MMRDA is in the process of building walls on both sides of the road and has installed foot over-bridges.

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